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The Early History of the Seventh Kansas 
Cavalry. 

Written by S. M, Fox, late Adjutant Seventh Kansas Cavalry, for the Kansas State 
" Historical Society. 

TO INTERPRET history accurately and truthfully one must have lived 
as a part of the history of which he speaks. This is especially true as 
relates to the campaigns of the early Kansas regiments along the Missouri 
border during the first months of the civil war. Documentary evidence re- 
lating to these movements is exceedingly meager, and we cannot confidently 
rely on the ever-increasing exaggeration of tradition. Therefore, when one 
attempts to criticise certain traditionary acts he should make himself doubly 
sure of the ground on which he bases his criticism. 

At this day, while some of the actors in the drama are still living, the 
need of the Kansas Historical Society is a statement of the facts based upon 
the personal knowledge of the narrator. His opinion of men with whom he 
has been thrown in intimate relationship in the past is of value. Their au- 
thenticated deeds he may well record; but great care should be taken that 
injustice be not done by a loose setting forth as fact that of which he has 
no personal knowledge, but which has come to him second-hand, through a 
possibly prejudiced source. 

I have undertaken this article not to embalm any personal achievement, 
but to correct a misstatement so baseless that I would not feel justified in 
letting it go unchallenged. I will endeavor to be as impersonal as possible, 
but it will be necessary to inject the ego into this statement long enough to 
say that I was a member of the Seventh Kansas cavalry and served in its 
ranks continuously from its earliest beginning, in 1861, until the regiment 
was finally mustered out as a veteran organization, in the fall of 1865; and 
therefore speak from intimate personal experience, and am not required to 
gather my facts from any secondary source. 

This article is inspired by the following statement taken from an article 
printed in the ninth volume of the "Kansas Historical Collections," under 
the title, "The Black-Flag Character of War on the Border," contributed 
by Henry E. Palmer, late captain in the Eleventh Kansas cavalry. I quote 
as follows: 

"This demoralized, inhuman condition of affairs in the district of the 
border was not confined to one side. The Seventh Kansas cavalry, organized 
October 28, 1861, commanded by Charles R. Jennison, gained under Jenni- 
son's control a world-wide reputation as the 'Jayhawkers. ' Returning from 
their first raid into Missouri, they marched through Kansas City, nearly all 
dressed in women's clothes, old bonnets and outlandish hats on their heads; 
spinning-wheels, and even gravestones, lashed to their saddles; their path- 
way through the country strewn with, to them, worthless household goods; 
their route lighted by burning homes. This regiment was little less than an 
armed mob until Jennison was forced to resign. May 1, 1862. As might be 
inferred, this man Jennison brought only disgrace to Kansas soldiery." 

Captain Palmer reiterates the above lurid statement in the Kansas City 



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2 1^ 

Star of November 24, 1908, in a reply to M. H. Madden, who had seen fit to 
take exceptions to some of Captain Palmer's statements in the above-quoted 
article. In this last communication to the Star, Captain Palmer goes on to 
strengthen his statement by saying: 

"There are neighbors of Mr. Madden in your peaceful, prosperous city 
that have not forgotten this parade through your streets, which occurred 
about October 7, 1861." 

i wish first to state here, before going further, that the Seventh Kansas 
cavalry (or the First Kansas cavalry, as it was then designated) never in 
its history paraded through Kansas City in the guise and manner depicted 
by Captain Palmer. It never "paraded through the streets of Kansas City 
. . . returning from its first raid into Missouri," nor returning from any 
other raid.' 

It will be observed that Captain Palmer mixes his chronology. He has 
correctly given the date of the organization of the Seventh Kansas cavalry 
as October 28, 1861, but he later fixes the date of the alleged parade through 
Kansas City as October 7, 1861, twenty-one days before the regiment was 
organized. 

It is a fact, however, that three companies of the Seventh Kansas were 
in Kansas City during the last half of September and the first half of Octo- 
ber, 1861. These companies were, however, dismounted and without uni- 
forms, having been rushed down from Fort Leavenworth to help defend the 
city against Price, then at Lexington. These companies made no raids what- 
ever, but did provost duty, Major Anthony being provost marshal part of 
the time. Colonel Jennison had no rank in the regiment until the date of 
organization, October 28. ^ It was understood, of course, that he was to be 
the colonel. I was in Kansas City doing duty with one of the three com- 
panies, and it seems odd that I have no recollection of any parade made 
through Kansas City as described. I would certainly have been impressed 
with such a wild and wooly performance, as I was a tenderfoot not long 
out of the East. I do, however, have a very vague recollection of a story 
told in camp that Jennison had at one time marched defiantly through 

Note 1. — Ex-Governor E. N. Morrill, of Hiawatha, a member of the Seventh Kansas, writes: 
"That story of Palmer's, it seems to me, is made up of whole cloth. It is absolutely false from 
beginnintf to end." From collateral incidents he fixes the date of the raid out to Independence as 
the 25th of November. The negroes of Independence had been waiting for the coming of a Moses, 
and Colonel Anthony was apparently the Moses that they were looking for, and they, doubtless 
following his suggestion, took wagons and carriages that they could find, loaded them with what- 
ever they could gather up, and followed the regiment back to Kansas City, and the next day 
Anthony distributed the goods among the negroes and sent them over into freedom, fwhich some- 
where had an existence within the confines of Kansas, It is possible that the hazy memories of 
some of the old settlers have confused this negro hegira with the Seventh Kansas itself. The 
regiment went out and returned the same day in good order. I have no doubt this exodus of 
negro slaves was instigated by Anthony, and I think they went up to Leavenworth and trailed 
through the streets, seeking for homes in the promised land. Do you realize how much of the 
burning and alleged plundering in Missouri was done by the negroes, who took advantage of the 
conditions to even up old scores? Those negro slaves had an intelligence and knowledge of 
affairs beyond what many people realized. That day at Independence I remember that Colonel 
Anthony struck a man of company A over the head with his saber for being funny and putting 
on a woman's bonnet that he had picked up. Every regiment in the army had its complement 
of regimental fools that had to be suppressed, 

Wildcr's "Annals of Kansas" has the following: "December 20 ( 1861 ) One hundred contra- 
bands freed by Colonel Anthony at Independence arrived at Leavenworth in gay procession." 
This freeing the slaves disturbed the rebel Missourians more than horse-stealing, or any other 
action of the Union troops. 

Note 2. — While the governor had some weeks previously issued a commission to Charles R. 

Jennison as lieutenant-colonel, he was not mustered into the United States service until mustered 

colonel, October 28, 1861. D, R. Anthony was first commissioned as major, and was mustered 

such into the United States service on September 29, 1861. He was the recognized head of the 

D. Of 0. 

MAY 23 1910 



3 

Kansas City with an independent company of his old Jayhawkers, but the 
memory is very indistinct. 

There are no available records to fix the dates of many border incidents, 
but Jennison did range about with his independent company well into Sep- 
tember, 1861, and it seems hard for many to separate its doings from the 
acts of the Seventh Kansas, later associated with Jennison 's name. ' Cap- 
tain Palmer has fallen into this common error. It will doubtless be a sur- 
prise to the captain and others to learn that Colonel Jennison never for a 
minute commanded the Seventh Kansas in person on any raid or during 
any field operation in Missouri during the time he was connected with the 
regiment. 

I never knew how or where Colonel Jennison spent a large portion of his 
time, or by what authority, other than his own, he was absept from his 
command. A part of his time was spent over the border in Kansas at a 
town known then as Squiresville. An occasional orderly— his means of com- 
munication with the regiment— would sometimes intimate that he was so- 
lacing the tedium of existence by an indulgence in a game of fascinating 
attraction in the West, known as draw-poker. Doubtless it was more at- 
tractive than the rude exercise that was necessarily an accompaniment of 
operations in the field. This is all that the rank and file knew of Jennison's 
whereabouts, and it was about all they cared. His influence on the regi- 
ment, if anything, was negative, and there were few who were not heartily 
glad when his wrath carried him to the precipitate step of sending in his 
resignation. This resignation was not forced, as Captain Palmer intimates, 
but was a voluntary act, induced by the appointment of James G. Blunt to 
the rank of brigadier-general, a position that he personally coveted and had 
hoped would be his. He made an intemperate speech to the men— the regi- 
ment was at Lawrence at the time— and during its course practically ad- 
vised them to desert; and before his wrath cooled his resignation was out 
of his hands beyond recall. A few men, principally from company H (the 
company recruited by Cleveland), deserted in response to Jennison's advice. 
The number was not great, and doubtless some of them went to join the 
band that Cleveland was organizing at the time, and that later preyed for a 
brief season on Union man and rebel with just impartiality. Before I pass 
on I want to say that company H was never a disorderly organization. 
Cleveland resigned just as the regiment was organized, and his service with 
the company was practically nothing. It was always a fighting organiza- 
tion, and many of the best men in the regiment were in its ranks. The un- 
desirable element had voluntarily eliminated itself. 

In the sketch, "The Black-Flag Condition of the War on the Border," 
there seem to be many loose and inconsistent statements. Captain Palmer 
speaks frankly of the burning of Osceola, Mo., by his own command (Lane'.s 

regiment until Jennison was mustered, as above. The reg-imental staff was org-anized in the 
middle of October, by the muster of John T. Snoddy (October 14. 1861) as adjutant, and, on the 
same date, Samuel Ayers as chaplain. It will be seen that the alleged ungodliness of the regi- 
ment was not due to the neglect of the governor in supplying an opportunity for religious train- 
ing. Robert W. Hamer was mustered as quartermaster the following day and the regimental 
staff was supplied with a sequence of reports. Bibles and fodder. 

Note 3.— Capt. W. E. Prince, Fort Leavenworth, to Gen. J. H. Lane, September 9, 1861 : "I 
hope you will adopt early and active measures to crush out this marauding which is being en- 
acted in Captain Jennison's name, as also yours, by a band of men representing themselves as 
belonging to your command."— War Records, vol. 3, series 1, p. 482. 



brigade), and the big drunk indulged in by some of the troops that would 
have incapacitated them for defense had they been attacked that night. 
He mentions a drumhead court martial at Morristown, when seven prisoners 
were summarily condemned and shot to death as a retaliatory measure. 
Then, later, he makes this statement: 

"The seventeen Kansas regiments, three batteries, and three colored 
regiments, with the exceptions above noted, gave the enemy no cause for 
guerilla warfare, but all left good records for brave and soldierly conduct, 
and the Seventh Kansas fully redeemed itself under Colonel Lee with Sher- 
man's army, 1862 to 1864."' 

The exceptions referred to were the Seventh and Fifteenth Kansas cav- 
alry regiments. 

I do not know the kind of meat that Caesar has to feed upon to become 
an oracle. But the captain knew little or nothing of the redemption of the 
Seventh Kansas. Colonel Lee was a brigade commander, and did not per- 
sonally command the regiment more than two months; and, besides, the 
Seventh Kansas never served in Sherman's army. Sherman was at one time 
a part of the army of the Tennessee, but the Seventh Kansas was never 
under him. I do not personally know anything relating to the Fifteenth 
Kansas cavalry, for I was serving far away, and the enemy confronting us 
was giving us sufficient to occupy our minds without worrying over other 
troubles. The men of the Fifteenth Kansas can make their own defense. 
However, I do protest against the name of Jennison being used to connect 
the Seventh Kansas with any event that occurred in Missouri. Through 
two of its officers, Jennison and Cleveland, the -regiment gained the name 
"Jayhawkers" — a heritage that brought trouble, but gave us the inspira- 
tion to make the name good. 

Other statements of Captain Palmer, for the purpose of historical ac- 
curacy, call for correction. After giving a list of guerrilla chieftains who 
operated in western Missouri in the early part of 1861 and whose blood- 
curdling war-cry was, "No surrender except in death!" he continues: 

"The Kansans under Lane,^ Montgomery, Blunt, Jennison, Anthony, 
Hoyt and others accepted the challenge, and until General Fremont, in Octo- 
ber, 1861, issued his order against this retaliatory work and forced a reor- 
ganization of Lane's brigade, which forced Lane out of the army and back 
to the senate, there was no pretension to the common amenities of civilized 
war," etc. 

It will be remembered, in an extract previously herein quoted. Captain 
Palmer states that, with the exception of the Seventh and Fifteenth Kan- 

NOTE 4. — Maj. Charles G. Halpine. assistant adjutant-greneral to Secretary of War. March 14. 
1862 : " Nothing could exceed the demoralized condition in which General Hunter found the Third 
and Fourth Kansas infantry and Fifth and Sixth Kansas cavalry, formerly known as 'Lane's 
hriKadc.' on his arrival in this department. The regrimental and company commanders knew 
iiothinK of their duties, and apparently had never made returns or reports of any kind." — War 
Records, vol. 8, series 1, p. 615. 

Note 5. — There is an error in Coffin's "Settlement of the Friends in Kansas" ( vol. 7. Kansas 
Hist. Col., p. 360). He says: The Seventh Kan.sas cavalry. Colonel Jennison's resriment, was 
made up about this time [ 1863 ] 120(1 men. They obtained orders and crossed into Platte county, 
and. with a besom of destruction, swept the border river counties, freeing all the slaves, of whom 
long c.ivalcades, with wagons, carriages, mules and stock, were crossing into Kansas contlnu- 
iilly. " 

The date of this makes it clear that it was the Fifteenth Kansas, and not the Seventh. The 
Sevriith was in Mississippi during the year 1863. 

Note 6.— Senator P. B. Plumb once remarked to the secretary that Senator James H. Lane 
was the only man who commanded an army without a commission. 



sas cavalry regiments, none of the Kansas organizations "gave the enemy 
cause for guerrilla warfare." The captain's statements do not seem to 
track. But, as to historical accuracy, note that he rings in Anthony and 
Hoyt in active connection with Lane, Montgomery, etc., before the issu- 
ance of Fremont's order in October, 1861, when the fact is that Anthony 
was not actively engaged in the field until November 11, and Hoyt was not 
yet in the service. While Hoyt was in service in Missouri with the Seventh 
Kansas he was an inconsequential second lieutenant; he became captain just 
as the regiment started for Mississippi, but until he resigned, not long 
after, he was for most part of the time in the sick squad, and cut no figure 
in the regiment worthy of mention. 

In a list of lurid incidents, which the captain says "come before my 
mind as a panorama, vivid as life, a story that can never be told," etc., the 
following is mentioned as traveling by, among the other glaring scenes: 

"Captain Charles Cleveland's desertion with several of company H, Sev- 
enth Kansas black-horse cavalry," etc. 

History demands certain corrections: Cleveland's first name was Marshall, 
not Charles; the Seventh Kansas was never known as the "black-horse 
cavalry," but company H was for a brief time called the "black-horse 
company;" and, finally. Cleveland did not desert, but left the regiment 
regularly, by accepted resignation; also, the desertion of eight or ten men 
from company H was five months after Cleveland resigned. Otherwise the 
lurid vision is correct as relates to Cleveland. 

I have been compelled to make the foregoing references to Captain Palm- 
er's article to show that he was not sufficiently careful in verifying many of 
his statements, and that there is much chronological confusion, as frequently 
the act antedates its suggested cause. The story of the motley parade of 
the Seventh Kansas, led through Kansas City by Colonel Jennison, is pure 
fiction as far as the Seventh Kansas is concerned. Captain Palmer did not 
admire Colonel Jennison; nothing of good could therefore result from any 
connection with him, and, under the mistaken idea that Jennison was in 
active command of the regiment during its brief service in Missouri, it 
could be but a disorganized rabble, and it was safe to call it so He has 
failed utterly to discriminate between the lawless acts of Jennison, butting 
in with his independent company" along the border during the early months 
of the war, and the regiment which later was associated with his name. 

As to the Seventh Kansas cavalry, Lieut. -Col. D. R. Anthony superin- 
tended the organization of the regiment and was the god of the machine. 
He was in active command of the regiment during the brief time it served 
in Missouri, and to him should be given all credit or blame that justly be- 

NoTE 7. — Jennison was twice commissioned by Governor Robinson in the Kansas Militia in 
1861, first on February 23. captain of Mound City Sharps Rifles Guards, and May 28. lieutenant- 
colonel Third regiment, southern division. Kansas Militia. 

A correspondent in the Leavenworth Conservative, writing from Fort Scott, July 10. ISfil. 
and signing himself "Jayhawker," tells of the operations of Captain Jennison in Missouri! 
Starting from Mound City. July 4. with thirteen men. he entered Vernon county, Missouri. .July 
5. and organized a company of forty-five men. with Isaac Morris, of Vernon county. Missouri, 
captain. Recruits from both states came in rapidly. Another company, under Ben Rice, soori 
joined the first, when separately they raided several secession camps, capturing army supplies, 
horses, etc., among them an ox-train with military supplier for Fort Arbuckle. Although Cap- 
tain Jennison was not known as an officer, all recognized him as commander-in-chief of the ex- 
pedition, which reached Fort Scott with 800 recruits. His purpose, it is stated, was to pass down 
through southwest Missouri and cooperate with United States troops in protecting Union men. 
— Colonel Jennison's Scrap-book. vol. 1, p. 11. 



6 

longs to this organization growing out of its service along the border. This 
service began about November 10, 1861, and ended January 31, 1862. Two 
weeks of this time was spent in camp up in Kansas, south of Leavenworth, 
and therefore its service in Missouri was of little more than two months' 
duration. Regiments had been marched to and fro. Lane's brigade of four 
regiments had been in the field for several months, moving up and down the 
border. Internecine strife was continuous with the people themselves, and 
when the Seventh Kansas first came into Missouri the desolate monuments 
that marked the destruction of barns and dwellings were to be seen with 
pitiful frequency; and yet it is fashionable to charge this desolation to the 
regiment that became heir to the name of "Jayhawkers." What this regi- 
ment actually did is sin enough, but it was a very small part when compared 
with the whole. 

The statement that "With the exception of the Seventh and Fifteenth 
Kansas cavalry, there were no better disciplined or better behaved troops 
in the Union army than the Kansas men," is a very extravagant phrase. 
The Kansas regiments were rushed into service before they were half or- 
ganized. None of them were well disciplined at the beginning, and many 
incompetent officers were at first selected. It took time to get rid of incom- 
petency, and the governor did much harm in commissioning inexperienced 
men from civil life and sending them out to take places that men who had 
made good by efficient service were justly entitled to. The two first regi- 
ments were magnificent organizations, but they received their discipline on 
the bloody field of Wilson Creek.* The sobering influence of a desperate 
battle will accomplish more in a day towards discipline than the martinet 
can bring about in a year of strenuous effort. None of the regiments at the 
first held the edge over the others, as far as discipline went. No state cer- 
tainly had the variety of adventurous material that made up the Kansas 
organization. There were Puritans and "hellions," and the intermediate 
grades of men; some praised God, and others cursed in His name; but they 
all were from a race militant, and, whether disciplined or not, fought when 
the chance offered. 

When the Seventh Kansas was paraded for muster at Fort Leavenworth 
on the date of the organization. October 28, 1861, but nine companies were 
in line. Company K, which Capt. John Brown, jr., was recruiting in Ohio 
had not reached the state. Jennison appeared in person for the first time, 
and, after getting himself "balled up" while trying to put the regiment 
through the manual of arms, rode away and left the command to Lieutenant- 
Colonel Anthony. I do not recall having seen Colonel Jennison again with 
the regiment until at Humboldt in February, 1862, where he was stationed 
in command of a brigade. If he visited the regiment at any time while in 
Missouri, it was a transient call. Colonel Anthony was permitted to exer- 
cise his own will without check or hindrance, so far as any apparent inter- 
ference by Jennison was concerned. What that will was, Colonel Anthony 
has been too recently with us and is too well known to make a statement nec- 

NoTE 8— In the battle of Wilson Creek the First Kansas lost fifty-one per cent, of those 
enirasred in killed and wounded. At the time of this battle the First and Second Kansas had 
been in the service but two months. DurinRr the battle Major Sturg is remarked to General Lyon. 
"These Kansas boys are doint? the best fig-htinpr that I ever witnessed." The First rejrinient 
afterwards traveleil tilKXI miles. Ihroujrh eitfht rebel states. The Second regiment waa the last 
one to !".ive the field (Wilson Creek), and the only regiment which kept its line and organization 
unbroken from the first to the last of the fight, which lasted about six hours. 



essary. The reader's judgment would doubtless be nearer the mark than 
Colonel Anthony's own, for he stated at a state editorial meeting a few 
years ago, while in a reminiscent mood, that he felt the greatest mistake he 
had made in life was, he had been too conservative. 

When about the middle of October, 1861, the three companies returned 
from Kansas City to Fort Leavenworth, as is stated earlier in this paper, 
clothing and equipment began to be issued. An unmustered company came 
from Illinois on escort duty, and they were persuaded to remain and cast 
their fortune with Kansas ; they became company D. Finally, on October 
28, nine companies being organized, and company K just ready to start from 
Ohio under young John Brown, the complete organization was accomplished. 

Jennison, as I have said, appeared for a brief moment; and it was just 
about this time that the thrilling scene that preceded Cleveland's resigna- 
tion was enacted. A dismounted parade had been formed on the "blue- 
grass," Colonel Anthony receiving the salute. Cleveland had made his first 
appearance. He was dressed in a somewhat motley garb— a soft hat, a reg- 
ulation coat, drab trousers thrust into low-topped riding-boots, a belt carry- 
ing a surplus of revolvers and a saber that seemed a hindrance. Colonel 
Anthony did not approve of the drab trousers, and forthwith proceeded to 
deliver a public censure ; whereupon the restive Jayhawker proceeded to ad- 
vance to the ' ' front and center ' ' without waiting for orders. There was 
language, profane and incisive, while each man looked the other directly in 
the eye. The amenities being passed, they glared at each other a moment, 
then Cleveland, with a parting compliment which has passed down into his- 
tory, strode away to his horse, hitched near by, and a moment later was 
galloping toward Leavenworth city. His resignation quickly followed, and 
was as promptly accepted. 

Men of the class of Jennison and Cleveland were nothing if not spectacu- 
lar. Jennison while colonel of the Seventh Kansas never wore the regula- 
tion head-gear; he always affected a tall, brimless fur cap. I recall my 
first vision of Cleveland. I was an eastern tenderfoot, and was being in- 
ducted into a knowledge of the new western world by a much-experienced 
brother recruit. We were sauntering down Shawnee street in Leaven- 
worth, and had just stopped to read a newly posted bill. It was headed 
*' Reward," and beneath it was set forth that a tempting number of dollars 
would be handed over to the individual who would bring in the body of one 
Marshall Cleveland, "dead or alive." We had both concluded that we were 
not hard up, and had started down the street, when we saw a gentleman 
with a neatly trimmed black beard riding towards us up the street. He 
was neatly dressed in a drab suit, low riding boots and a soft hat grace- 
fully slouched. He wore the universal belt, and a bulge on either side in 
the tails of his frock coat made it plain to see that he was not defenseless. 
His horse looked like a thoroughbred, and he seemed wonderfully at home 
in the saddle. I remarked: "That's a mighty fine horse." My friend 
answered: " It ought to be; he has the pick of Missouri. That's Cleve- 
land." Nobody offered to arrest him, and he rode on up the street. He 
went south on Fifth, and turned east on Delaware street. He was 
offering his person to the reward-seekers with a reckless nonchalance that 
thrilled my unsophisticated nature to the core. I, however, did not hover in 
his vicinity. 



8 

The same evening while I— still inducted by my guide— was listening 
with curiosity rather than delight to the much-bedazzled prima donna of the 
slums, at the "Moral Show" that stood by the old market-house at the 
comer of Fifth and Shawnee streets, a little flurry brought attention to the 
fact that Cleveland was leaning against a post in the back part of the hall. 
He nodded to a few acquaintances, refused the request of a cross-eyed 
Hebe to invest in her liquid wares, and presently sauntered out. My next 
information was that the offer of reward had been withdrawn, and that 
Cleveland had been authorized to recruit a company for Jennison's regiment. 

The organization of the Seventh Kansas being effected, the regiment, 
well uniformed, well mounted, but indifferently armed, moved down through 
Kansas to Kansas City and went into camp. Anthony, in person, with 
companies A, B and H, went into bivouac on the Majors farm, about four 
miles southeast of Westport. The remainder of the regiment, except com- 
pany K, camped in nearer to Kansas City, on 0. K. creek. 

It will be remembered that all of the city practically lay north of the 
junction [Main and Delaware] in those days, and did not reach out very far 
to the east or west. The McGee division, to the south, contained a brick 
block of three or four stores and a few scattering houses and was con- 
nected with the city by an unpaved road, unless six inches of Missouri clay 
mud can be called a pavement. 

It is not necessary to keep harping about the conditions that prevailed 
along the Kansas border at this time, yet possibly a little retrospection may 
make matters plainer to those who were not participants in these affairs. 
The border-ruffian element in Missouri had held the ascendency during 1855 
and 1856, and rode over Kansas roughshod. They had burned Lawrence and 
Osawatomie, and plundered other hamlets; had committed murders and out- 
rages through the settlements, and had shown no mercy. Montgomery and 
John Brown, who were essentially men of action, began to lead their fol- 
lowers to resistance, and others followed their lead. There were others 
who rode up and down and raged, but made little show of accomplishment. 
The steady northern persistence finally made itself felt, and the border- 
ruflian element was gradually thrown on the defensive. They had sown the 
wind and the whirlwind had to be reaped. 

When the war became a fact, the conditions along the Kansas border 
were unlike anything elsewhere. There were bitter wrongs to be righted, 
and no one can stay the power of revenge. The creed of self-repression, 
where the reversed cheek is to be submitted to the smiter, finds but few 
who will accept it in times of stress. They rather turn to the Old Test? 
ment, where a contrary doctrine can find support. John Brown had become 
a martyr, and his soul militant had commenced its march of freedom, and 
inspired feet were swinging into step to follow. Loyal Missourians, driven 
from their homes, had joined the Union army, with the bitter purpose to 
accomplish reprisal and revenge. No one can make a comparison with con- 
ditions existing anywhere else in the land. The situation must be judged 
by itself; it can admit of no comparison; it stands unique and alone. 

Imagination doubtless depicts the "Jayhawkers, " represented in the in- 
dividuals who made up the Seventh Kansas cavalry, as bearded desperadoes 
with mustaches painted and drooping and a bellicose swagger that sug- 
gested trouble to the timorous wayfarer. The truth is that a majority 



of this regiment were beardless youths. Some of them had roughed it 
through Hfe and were coarse of fiber, but many others had come from cul- 
tured homes in New England and Eastern states. Not half of the regiment 
was recruited in Kansas, but there was leaven enough to permeate the lump. 
One company was recruited in Ashtabula county, Ohio, organized by a son 
of John Brown, and did not need any leavening influence. Three whole 
companies and the halves of two others came from Illinois. The John Brown 
company came the long journey that the name of "Kansas" might be asso- 
ciated with their efforts toward the overthrow of slavery. They were satu- 
rated with the spirit of the martyrs. As to education, the men ranked high 
above the average. The regiment furnished more clerks at the various 
headquarters than any other similar organization in the Sixteenth army 
corps. The men were not ruffians or desperadoes, but averaged fairly with 
other regiments of the civil war. They were probably no better or no 
worse. ' 

The name of " Jayhawker " was not an asset at first to be highly valued. 
The men laughed at it and accepted it. They did not realize what might 
happen to them in future ages when the ambitious historian turned his im- 
agination loose on the iniquities that attended the name. When, in the 
spring of 1862, the regiment was ordered down to the Army of the Ten- 
nessee, where real war was on tap, the name suggested a scapegoat, and 
every regiment in the army corps began systematically to lay their depreda- 
tions on the shoulders of the Seventh Kansas. We had our pay held up for 
over eight months because we refused to make good the depredations com- 
mitted almost entirely by an Illinois regiment. It was for this injustice 
that the First Kansas, out of sympathy (God bless them!), refused to cheer 
General Grant when so ordered, as they marched by his headquarters at Ox- 
ford, Miss., in the fall of 1862. And this grand old regiment was mighty 
well disciplined, too. I love this old regiment. We served together for al- 
most a year. I never shall forget the scene at the Tallahatchie when the 
rebels began their advance toward our little regiment from their forts along 
the bottom. Forty siege-guns were filling the atmosphere with bursting 
shells, and things looked dubious. But just then the infantry column came 
up at double time, the First Kansas in the advance— "Jayhawkers, ye '11 
have help now! " All hell couldn't have taken that hill. 

During the summer of 1862 the Seventh Kansas served under the great 
cavalry leader. General Sheridan, then a colonel, at Rienzi, the extreme 
southern outpost of the army. The service was hazardous and exacting, 
but this efficient soldier often spoke in generous praise of the service ren- 
dered. During the advance of General Grant's army down the Mississippi 
Central Railway toward Vicksburg in the fall of 1862, day after day the 
Seventh Kansas held the post of honor as the advance-guard of the main 
infantry column, and it skirmished and fought over every foot of the way 
between the Cold Water and Coffey ville. It cleared and carried the crossing 
of every intermediate stream ; charged through and captured Holly Springs 
in the early morning, with military stores and many prisoners; charged the 
rebel battery at Waterford and captured one o'f its guns; and finally drove 

Note 9. -The American Bible Society had a depository at Harrison ville. Mo. When a de- 
tachment of the Seventh Kansas entered the town the store had been already looted by some 
previous organization, but the Bibles were left intact. The Seventh Kansas took the Bibles. It 
might be pleasant at this late date for the Bible Society to learn that their involuntary charity 
had been so appropriately applied. 



lO 

the enemy behind their breastworks at the Tallahatchie, and held them there 
for eight hours until the infantry advance came up, led by the grand old 
First Kansas infantry. These eight hours were'passed under the steady fire 
of forty siege-guns that made up the Confederate batteries. Men of the 
Seventh Kansas crawled that night through the rebel pickets and into their 
fortifications, and brought the news that the enemy were evacuating. In 
the early morning this regiment forced a crossing and followed, harassing 
their rear-guard from Abbey ville to Oxford, and, driving back their artillery, 
carried the town by a charge, fighting every inch of the way through the 
streets. Between the Tallahatchie and Water Valley this one regiment cap- 
tured over 2000 prisoners. At Coffeyville, where the entire cavalry division 
was led into a trap by an inefficient leader, the Seventh Kansas was in the 
brunt of the battle, and fell back in order, and it was the Seventh Kansas 
that formed at the Tillaboba bridge against the rebel infantry and stopped 
their pursuit. General Grant never criticised the fighting qualities of the 
regiment. 

Gen. G. M. Dodge, when in command of the Sixteenth army corps, 
always gave the Seventh Kansas cavalry the preference, and plainly told us 
so. While under his command the Seventh Kansas and Tenth Missouri cav- 
alry (Cornyn's brigade), numbering less than 1000 men, whipped to a finish 
3500 men under Roddy at Leighton, Ala., and a week later the augmented 
brigade whipped General Gholson's army at Tupello, Miss., capturing an en- 
tire regiment of Confederate cavalry. 

During the campaigns of Gen. A. J. Smith against Forrest, in northern 
Mississippi, in 1864, that splendid fighter detached the Seventh Kansas 
from the cavalry corps, and the Jayhawkers were again given the honored 
position of advance-guard of the main infantry column. It cleared the way 
from the north line of Mississippi to Pontotoc; and when Smith made a feint 
retreat to maneuver Forrest outside of his fortifications, the Seventh Kan- 
sas fought for sixteen hours, covering the rear against Forrest's entire cav- 
alry division. Only those who have been up against Forrest know what 
this means. Forrest himself says, referring to this rear defense: "He took 
advantage of every favorable position, and my artillery was kept almost 
constantly busy." The whole wagon-train for the most of the day had but 
the Seventh Kansas between it and the enemy's cavalry. GeYieral Smith's 
confidence in the regiment must have been great; and it was not mistaken — 
not a wagon was lost. 

The above incidents are cited to show that under great war leaders the 
Jayhawkers were trusted and honored, and that as a fighting regiment it 
always made good. It fought an offensive warfare, not waiting to be at- 
tacked, but dashed in and got in that effective first blow that wins the fight. 
Even during its two months in Missouri in the winter of 1861-'62, its killed 
and wounded was almost fifty per cent, more than the similar loss in Lane's 
brigade during the whole time it was under Lane's command. 

The first movement made into Missouri, as has been said, was by com- 
panies A, B and H, led by Colonel Anthony. On the evening of November 
10, 1861, a loyal Missourian came in with the information that the rebel Up. 
Hayes had assembled his band of guerrillas for mischief, and was in camp 
on the Little Blue about thirteen miles out. Anthony immediately moved, 
with 110 men, and after an all-night march attacked the rebel camp at early 



1 1 

morning of the 11th. A desperate fight followed. The rebel force greatly 
outnumbered Anthony's command, but, taken by surprise, they were 
driven from their camp with heavy loss, and their horses, wagons and en- 
tire camp equipment were captured. The guerrillas retreated to the bluffs 
and rallied behind the rocks in a strong defensive position, from which they 
could not be driven. Our loss was nine men killed and about thirty wounded, 
many of the latter, however, but slightly. The rebel dead left in camp was 
a much larger number. Anthony retired, bringing away all his killed and 
wounded and all the captured property. The writer was, with the reenforce- 
ments, hurried out to Anthony's support. He was met some eight miles 
out, on his return march. There were farm-wagons and bed-quilts, a part 
of the primitive rebel equipment. In some of the wagons were the severely 
wounded, stolidly bearing their pain; in others the bed-quilts covered motion- 
less shapes, and told the pitiful story of death and sacrifice. There were 
no "women's dresses," nor "spinning-wheels " nor "gravestones strapped •" 
to the horses"— the gravestones were a matter for after-consideration. 
This was the first raid of the Seventh Kansas into Missouri. 

Soon after the regiment went into camp together on the Westport road, 
near the old McGee tavern. From this camp the regiment made a march 
out to Independence, returning the same day. This movement is called "a 
raid" by Britton in his "Civil War on the Border, 1861-'62," (page 176). 
He erroneously fixes the date in September (more than a month before the 
Seventh Kansas was organized), and credits the speech in the court-house 
square to Jennison. Jennison was not present ; Colonel Anthony was in 
command and made the speech. 

When Price retreated south from Lexington he promised to soon return 
with reenforcements and occupy the country permanently. The rebel sym- 
pathizers around Independence were aggressively elated, and the spirit of 
secession blatantly rampant. Threats were being made against loyal citi- 
zens, and many were being driven from their homes and compelled to come 
over into Kansas for safety. 

Both the march out and return were orderly. It was not the first time 
Union troops had passed over this road. Some destroying hand had some- 
time preceded us ; along the road were several lonely chimneys and black- 
ened remains of houses. •As we entered Independence, riding down the 
long, sloping street to the business part of the town, we saw two ladies 
waving their handkerchiefs from the upper floor of a double porch, at the 
rear of a house about a block to the left. When we returned in the after- 
noon they were again at their post. Three years later, when the veteran 
Seventh Kansas had been rushed by forced marches from Mississippi to help 
defend Kansas against Price, and as the extreme advance of Pleasanton's 
relieving army charged up that same street against a battery in action on 
the crest, two ladies were waving their handkerchiefs from that same porch. 

Note 10.— The writer of this article has had some experience with pack-trains, but is- at a 
loss just how to proceed to strap a spinning-wheel to a saddle, especially as the saddle is to be 
occupied by a rider. The statement seems a little extravagant. _ Also, the setting of the scene 
seems to be a little -contradictory. That the route should be "lighted by burning homes" re- 
quires a background of darkness, and that the particulars of the fantastic garb and impedimenta 
alleged to have been borne by the recreant Jayhawkers be made evident, the light of day would 
seem to have been most necessary. Also, referring to the "gravestones" that were strapped 
to the saddles, might they not have been finger-boards taken from the crossroads? Or perhaps 
the word "gravestones" is a misprint for grindstones; for it was the universal custom of the 
Seventh Kansas to take possession of all grindstones found along the line of march. These were 
worn on the watch-chain as an ornament or fob. 



12 

Shells were bursting and bullets were flying thick, but they maintained 
their post to the end. They did not seem to have any grudge against the 
Seventh Kansas. 

While at Independence the regiment was not permitted to break ranks. 
The male citizens were rounded up and corraled in the court-house square, 
and Colonel Anthony, from the court-house steps, impressed upon their 
minds some wise and salutary truths. I do not know that much good was 
accomplished, but I am sure Colonel Anthony himself must have been greatly 
relieved when he got that red-hot stuff out of his system. No houses were 
burned at any time. The regiment made an orderly march back to their 
camp and did not parade through Kansas City, and the lurid story of the 
route being "lighted by burning homes" lacked the necessary background 
of darkness to have made it effective. 

Colonel Anthony was a rigid disciplinarian and exacted obedience on 
every occasion. He was at times tyrannical, and on several occasions he 
stood perilously near death when he threatened men with the flat of his 
saber. He never stood for foolishness, and while on the march was con- 
stantly up and down the column watching the conditions, and if the fool of 
the regiment had deemed it funny to array himself in any grotesque manner 
he would have been ordered to dismount and continue the rest of the march 
on foot, and when in camp the most unpleasant part of fatigue duty would 
have been assigned to him. No culprit could ever hope to escape through 
forgetfulness: his case was always attended to. The army was too new for 
this excess of discipline, and often he would have accomplished more by less 
exacting methods. He was himself restive under authority, and did not 
hesitate to express his opinion of the incompetency of certain officers over 
him, and this was not a good pattern of discipline to set for his men. The 
first year of the war was a great strain on the army. A lot of incompetent 
book soldiers had to be tried out, and the great leaders were yet subordi- 
nates, who had still to make themselves evident by their works. In the 
regiment, the first selection of company officers was not always a suc- 
cess. They Were elected by the men. But I will say this method produced 
better results than would have obtained from a direct independent appoint- 
ment by the governor; and this opinion is abundantly sustained by the 
character of the appointments he later imposefl upon us from civil life. 
Two of his appointments did make good. Capt. Jacob M. Anthony illus- 
trated the Kansas motto, but he was helped bj' peculiar conditions; and 
Fred Emery, the other, very soon was transferred to the regimental staff 
as adjutant, and did not have a disgruntled company of men behind him to 
make life a tantalizing and troublous journey. All the rest went down to 
oblivion through forced resignation or the sentence of a court martial. 

A few days after this "raid" out to Independence, the Seventh Kansas 
moved out by a roundabout way to Pleasant Hill. On this march guerrilla 
pickets were in evidence on distant elevations, disappearing over the crest 
whenever a near approach was made. Late in the morning a heavy fog 
came down, and the advance was necessarily very cautious. When the fog 
suddenly lifted, the point, consisting of six men under the command of First 
Sergt. Johnny Gilbert of company C, saw a squad of men grouped up the 
road near a house on a hill. He immediately charged, and the guerrillas, 
evidently thinking the whole regiment was behind the yells that the six 



13 

throats were emitting, broke and wildly stampeded down the road, and, to 
the surprise of the charging squad, about eighty mounted men, who had 
been invisible behind an echelon of barns and stacks, dashed out and, terror- 
stricken, followed them. One dead mule and one wounded prisoner were 
the material fruits of this unexpected victory. I cannot refrain from inject- 
ing here an item of personal achievement. I charged with this squad, but I 
could not help it— my horse ran away. As to Johnny Gilbert, he later de- 
serted, leaving all government property carefully scheduled behind him in 
his tent. He had been outraged by the appointment by the governor of an 
incompetent, cowardly civilian to a commissioned vacancy that in all justice 
belonged to him. I saw him later in the service as a sergeant of artillery 
in a famous battery attached to the Sixteenth army corps. 

A few days later the regiment came back and went into camp in the old 
fair-ground at Independence. While at this camp fifteen picked men were 
sent out, under command of Lieut. Frank Ray, to the north as far as the 
river. A written list of about a dozen houses, scatteringly located, was 
given him, with verbal instructions to burn them. This was systematically 
done. Ray had been a sergeant in the regular army. His force was small 
and the neighborhood was full of danger, and he kept his men compactly 
together. No looting was permitted, not even from houses burned. One 
old Roman matron helped the destruction by throwing a pillow-case a quarter 
full of powder in her fireplace, and walked from the ruins apparently un- 
scathed. Whether the orders for this burning came from higher than regi- 
mental authority I never knew. There was no row made at Fort Leavenworth 
over it, as was the case in subsequent events. 

The regiment went north into Kansas for about two weeks, being during 
the time in camp about eight miles south of Leavenworth. On December 
10 the Seventh Kansas was ordered to West Point, in the northern part of 
Bates county, Missouri. There was no town there at the time, it having 
been burned by other vandals than the Jayhawker regiment. On December 
24, the regiment marched north in the face of a blinding blizzard, to Morris- 
town, or where Morristown^^ had once stood. This town was also little more 
than a name ; the anticipatory torch had some time before blotted it out. It 
was here that Col. Hampton Johnson of the Fifth Kansas cavalry had been 
ambushed and slain at the crossing of the stream, in September; and it was 
here, I believe, at that time, that seven Confederate prisoners were sub- 
jected to the action of a drumhead court martial and shot at the edge of their 
graves. The justice of this act does not concern the history of the Seventh 
Kansas. It occurred before the service of that regiment began. This was 
the permanent camp of the regiment during the remainder of its stay in 
Missouri. 

On the last day of 1861 a raid was made out to Dayton and Rose Hill. 
The latter town was in the southeast corner of Johnson county. Fulkerson, 
Scott and Britty, rebel officers, were recruiting through this neighborhood. 
Many Union families were being driven out and over into Kansas, and 
brought stories of burning and outrage to our camp. There was much skir- 

NOTE 11.— A correspondent signing himself "A. B. M.." writing from near Morristown, July 
23, 1861, speaks of the capture of Morristown, Mo., July 22. by Captain Jennison with twenty-five 
of his own men and twenty volunteers. Two wagon-loads of "contraband" goods were taken 
and distributed through the camp. To the writer's share fell two hats, a necktie, drawers, 
bridle-bit, soap, pencils, blank books, writing-paper, and, as company steward, a supply of drugs 
and medicines.— Jennison Scrap-books, vol. 1, p. 13. 



14 

mishing during this trip, and Colonel Anthony was in personal command. '^ 
The town of Dayton was burned by his order, and he never shrank from the 
responsibility. Scattering farmhouses were also burned, and doubtless 
horses were taken and some looting done. Anthony made a report of this 
expedition. His action was disapproved by General Hunter, and he was 
censured, but never punished. 

I cannot speak personally of the occurrences during the month of Jan- 
uary, 1862, for I passed that month in an old remnant of a house at Morris- 
town set apart for a hospital. The delirium of typhoid fever blotted out 
my memory during that time. I can say, however, that there was much 
fighting during that month, and the regiment lost seven or eight men killed 
in action, and a number of men were wounded. On January 9 an expedition 
was made, under Major Herrick, to Holden and Columbus. Company D 
was ambushed at the latter place and driven back. Captain Utt, with com- 
pany A, captured the town, buried our dead and burned the village. There 
was much scouting during the remaining time in Missouri. Horses were 
brought in, and doubtless many found their way to private homes in Kan- 
sas, and not many to the government corrals. It has been said that Jenni- 
son profited by the sale of some of them; but it is better understood that 
his active cooperator, when he resigned and sold this stock, told Jennison to 
whistle for his share. 

Jennison evidently directed operations'from a distance, in a limited sense, 
and a very limited portion of the command was involved. It is to be re- 
membered that the desertions from company H were a matter of subsequent 
history. The regiment, as a body, was under a reasonable state of dis- 
cipline. On January 31, 1862, the Seventh Kansas started on its march to 
Humboldt, Kan., which town had been burned during the previous October by 
rebel raiders led by Col. Talbott. Missouri knew the Seventh Kansas no more 
until the Price raid of the fall of 1864 brought back that regiment by forced 
marches from Mississippi. The hurried rush up the river to St. Louis from 
Memphis, the day-and-night march across Missouri, and the charge at Inde- 
pendence were subsequent history. The firing in the rear of Price's army, 
that told the almost exhausted Union soldiers at Kansas City that relief had 
come, was directed at the charging Kansas regiment, that had outlived 
obloquy and come into its heritage. 

There is a good deal of rot connected with the theory that any especial 
man or deed was responsible for the raid on Lawrence. The original burn- 
ing of Lawrence, Osawatomie, etc., was responsible for Montgomery, Jen- 
nison, etc., and the campaigns along the border in 1861 held the Missouri 

Note 12.— The rebels in Jackson county never fought unless they had the advantaRe: they 
laid in ambush and bushwhacked. They did not wear uniforms, but wore citizens' clothing, and 
when cornered hid their guns and came out whining that they were Union men. Whenever a 
house was burned they always sent up a howl about being "Union." when no house was burned 
unless it was well-known that the owner was a guerrilla and out in the "bresh." The only howl 
made was by "Grandmother" Halleck. and General Hunter, who learned better later. In Alabama 
we went out and burned and destroyed barns, corn and fo<lder. and brought away all horses and 
mules; also cattle, as a rebel brigade made this their home and came out to raid upon our outly- 
ing camps. Whenever a train was fired upon by guerrillas we immediately destroyed all build- 
ings and property within a radius of several miles. We burned O.xford. Miss., in retaliation for 
the burning of Chambersburg. Pa., by Early. (We got the news from a rebel newspaper which 
was exulting over it.) 

Order of General Grant to General Sheridan, August 16. 1864: If you can possibly spare a 
division of cavalry, send them through Loudon county to destroy and carry off the crops, ani- 
mals, negroes, and all men under fifty years of age capable of carrying arms," etc. 

This destruction was common throughout the army. It was a necessity. When Grant fell 
back from Oxford, Miss., In the winter of 1861 and 1862, we covered the rear. Fences, bams and 
houses were burning, destroyed by the infantry column in advance of us. 



15 

guerrillas in check for the time. Quantrill was a moral degenerate, and 
when one follows the subsequent career of train-robbing and murder of 
Jesse James, Cole Younger and others of Quantrill's old gang, the question 
of inducement to slaughter seems to be a superfluity. Quantrill doubtless 
had his eyes on Lawrence from the beginning, and was only watching for a 
propitious season to carry out a long-matured plan. 

As to the conditions in Missouri after the Seventh Kansas left, the fol- 
lowing extract from a letter of 0. G. Gates, of Jackson county, Missouri, to 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, bearing date of February 26, 1862, 
(War Records, vol. 17, part 2, p. 93) will illustrate: 

"It now appears that, although the Kansas volunteer troops in obedience 
to orders did leave the state of Missouri, the substituted United States 
troops in that county (Jackson) have made no change in their mode of war- 
fare for the better; the same wanton and lawless violation on the rights of 
private property have continued without check or hindrance. Bands of 
negroes, slave and free, and clans of white men, thief and Jayhawker, from 
the state of Kansas, with the knowledge of the United States forces thus 
substituted, are permitted in open day to enter our county and freely gratify 
their savage lust of plunder and private revenge on defenseless and terror- 
stricken people." 

It would appear from the above that the Seventh Kansas was not re- 
sponsible for all the wrongs on the border, i^ The Seventh Kansas had 
become heir to the name " Jayhawkers, " and they bore it to the end. The 
regiment was neither an aggregation of devils nor saints. The regiment 
did always fight well, and gained some honor. Propitious fate transferred 
them to the Army of the Tennessee, and their initial service there was 
directly under Gol. Philip Sheridan. Without orders, the regiment charged 
General Price's camp at Marietta, Miss., and rode through it and brought 
away his headquarters flag, and would have burned the camp had not Sheri- 
dan in person ordered us to withdraw. The Seventh Kansas rode down 
through Funderberger's Lane in the night against an unknown foe, and 
routed a superior force. The Seventh Kansas, unaided and far from sup- 
port, charged Jackson's veteran cavalry division of over 4000 men, and the 
lane at Lamar was strewn with rebel dead. Thirty-six killed, 500 prisoners, 
hundreds of horses and over 2000 stands of arms were the fruits of this vic- 
tory. The infantry regiments came out and cheered us as we passed their 
camps on our return, and it became a custom that obtained for months 

Note 13.— A careful reading of the war records of operations in Jackson and surrounding: 
counties during 1862, between the time that the Seventh Kansas was withdrawn and the " Red 
Leg " service began— that houses of rebels continued to be burned by Union troops, as is noted in 
the reports of Col. John T. Burris and others (War Records, vol. 8), and the "capture" of 
horses by the hundreds that were seized and brought out of Missouri, which are mentioned in 
these reports— indicate that the warfare of 1861 continued, and it does not appear thatany specific 
censure emanated from headquarters. Also Gen. Ben. Loan, on November 17, 1862, assessed 
$15,000 against the disloyal citizens of Jackson county, $7500 to be applied to subsist enrolled 
militia, and $7500 for destitute families of soldiers engaged in active service. General Curtis 
alone seemed to comprehend the situation, as his communication to General Loan ( War Records, 
vol. 13. p. 688 ), dated September 29, 1862. indicates : 

". . . You think Lane and Jennison should be sent to a 'safe place.' I think it would 
be safe to send them against the rebels and Indians that are now collected and invading Mc- 
Donald, Barry and Stone counties. But let terror reign among the rebels. It will be better to 
have them under such power than loose to carry on guerrilla warfare which drives good people 
out of Jackson and Lafayette. . . . What rights have the rascals that go skulking ab<jut in 
the garb of citizens, not soldiers? Even our enrolled militia go with a badge on their hats ; but 
these bands of so-called ' Partisan Rangers ' sneak through the brush with no emblems of war, 
but with the stealthy, concealed garb of a private citizen, seek to continue the business of steal- 
ing, rol)bing and murdering. They deserve no quarter, no terms of civilized warfare. Pursue, 
strike and destroy these reptiles, and report to these headquarters as often as possible." 

On the date that General Curtis wrote this characteristic letter the Seventh Kansas was 
hanging on the flank of Van Dom's army, advancing on Corinth, and attacked their train at 
Bone Yard. 



i.ibrhry of congre 



16 



after. We began to feel that we could eventually trot ii 
with the old First Kansas infantry, which was among the cheerers. It is 
an old story and has been briefly told elsewhere. As time went on the 
name "Jayhawkers" lost its opprobrium, and the Seventh Kansas began 
to make it an honorable appellation. Yet it was the same regiment, little 
changed from the band which had served about two months in Missouri, 
and, if we believe vague tradition, laid the country desolate. 

Cleveland met his fate as a discredited outlaw at the ford of the Marais 
des Cygnes. Jennison has cashed in his checks, withdrawn from the turbu- 
lent game of life, and judgment has been passed upon him. With all his 
sins, he had a gambler's generosity, and he often made life endurable to 
some poor struggling soul. May his deeds of kindness be remembered and 
all that was evil in his nature be forgotten. 

Let us see. Kansas aspires to be called the "Jay hawker State." Our 
most illustrious citizens hail the name as a badge of honor. Our great Uni- 
versity perpetuates the name in its war-cry that celebrates victory or shouts 
defiance after stubborn defeat. How came dishonor to be purified? Did 
not that one cavalry regiment that inherited the name and bore it through 
four years of strenuous war do much to make it what it is? How else was 
the miracle accomplished ? 



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